Following the vandalism at the protest site at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the eve of the 78th Independence Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being responsible for the incident.
While addressing a rally on Friday, where she urged the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to expedite the probe into the matter, Banerjee stated, “I know the vandalism at RG Kar was orchestrated by CPIM and BJP. Despite all this drama, the protest continues. I salute the protestors; I have nothing more to say; they have done the right thing.”
Criticising both CPIM and BJP, she continued, “There are skeletons scattered across Bengal. We all know this. All their grandstanding is meaningless. If they had shown genuine sympathy and compassion, I wouldn’t need to say anything. But now I will speak out… Who was responsible for the Bilkis Bano case? Who was behind the Unnao incident? Who was behind the Hathras incident? Just yesterday, in Madhya Pradesh, a Dalit woman was targeted. Who was responsible? In Manipur, women were paraded naked for a month and raped–under whose rule did that happen? Who tortured the wrestlers? Was there any justice? Instead, the perpetrator was promoted to MP, and his son was given a ticket. We are neither pawns nor kings. Nine governors were changed, but our ‘king’ remains the same. He can use all the big words he wants, but tell me, are women safe in BJP-ruled states? When something happens in Bengal, there is an investigation, but when it happens in your state, there is none.”
“…After midnight, we can see in the video CPIM members holding DYFI flags and BJP members holding the national flag. The national flag cannot be misused for politics. There is a code for the National Flag, and they should be punished; it is a criminal offence,” she added.
Banerjee also criticised CPIM for their response to similar incidents in other parts of the country.
“CPIM, how many teams did you send to Manipur, Hathras, or Unnao? How many teams did you send to Delhi during the NRC protests, where many were killed? And now, in Bengal, because of a minor incident, you have sent your team here. Don’t you have any shame? You can say whatever you want to me; it doesn’t affect me… I will work for the people until my last breath. You don’t scare me, CPIM-BJP. We didn’t come to power through rigged elections; we were elected through elections conducted by the ECI and the Government of India,” she said.
She further asserted that the state government is capable of handling any situation in Bengal and called for capital punishment for the accused in this case.
“If anything happens, we take immediate action, and we want to ensure that such incidents don’t recur. For this reason, we are demanding capital punishment so that in the future, no one dares to do such things… The Bengal state government is fully capable of handling any situation that arises… We now demand capital punishment for this incident,” she said.
Banerjee also questioned why CPIM and BJP couldn’t wait for the Kolkata Police to complete their investigation by the August 17 deadline, given that the CBI took over the probe on August 13.
“I had requested some time, and I assured that if we couldn’t complete the investigation and initiate the process for capital punishment by Sunday, I would hand over the case to the CBI myself. So, why couldn’t you wait, CPIM and BJP?” she asked.
On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, triggering nationwide protests by doctors and medical professionals.
On August 14, a mob entered the RG Kar Hospital campus and vandalized the protest site, vehicles, and public property, forcing security officials to disperse the crowd.
